THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT'S RETIREMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4938, 30 April 1894, Page 3

THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT'S RETIREMENT.

[FBOH OUB OWN CORRESPONDENT.! London, March 2. The following " fancy portrait " of the Duke of Beaufort was sketched two or three years ago :— Tbe Beauforts claim to be descended from John ot Gaunt, " time-honoured Lancaster," and have, therefore, the blood of the Plantagenets flowing in their veins. It is true that the lineage was crossed by the bar sinister ; but Edward the Ill's famous son had all his children by Catherine Swynford, whom he eventually married, legitimated, and gave them the name of Beaufort from the castle in Anjou, where they were born. One of the sons was the celebrated Cardinal Beaufort, a name familiar to all readers of Shakspere's Henry VI, his death-bed scene in the second part of that "history" being an often- quoted passage. Becent historians have, however, whitewashed the Cardinal, who played so important a role during the Wars" of the Bobos, from the crimes imputed to him by old chroniclers, and make him out to have been a very good fellow indeed. It was from the eldest of Catherine Swynford- sons. Sir John Beaufort, created in 1396 Earl of Somerset, and afterwards Marquis of Dorset, that the house of Beaufort is descended, through Charles Somerset, an illegitimate son of Sir John's successor, Henry Duke o! Somerset. Charles, however, was a man of such commanding talents that he was created, by Henry VIII., Earl of Worcester. Henry, the fifth Earl, was a hero both of history and romance. Hia defence of Bagland Castle for his Boyal master, Charleß 1., from 1642 to 1646 with a garrison of 800 men, without during all that time levying contributions upon the country, has been celebrated in both fact and fiction. The eon of this nobleman, Edward, Marquis of Worcester, was a great scientist, who first described the power and application of the steam engine, in a work entitled " A Century of Inventions," published in 1655. In this he gives an account of a steam apparatus, by means of which he raised a column of water to the height of 40 feet, aud to him, therefore, belongs the honour of being the pioneer oi the greatest of modern, discoveries. It was the sun of this Marquis whom Charles 11. created Duke of Beaufort, and from that time Marquis of Worcester became the title of the eldest eon of the house, Henry Charles Fitzroy Somerset, eighth Duke of Beaufort, who now holds the title, was born in February, 1824. As Marquis of Worcester he held a commission in the 7th Hussars, and was one of the most noted dandies of the day. Perhaps at the period when the young Marquis began to see life English society was at its best. The disreputable " bucks, bloods, and Corinthians" of the Begency and last Georgian days, the Major Hangers, Colonel Berkeleys, Sir John Lades, Beau Brummels, Barrymores, &c, had died out or sown their wild oats, and their successors, thanks to the influence of a purer Court, grew up to respect the convenances and decencies of society. It was in 1853 that Henry Fitzroy succeeded to the title, and resigning his commission in the Hussars, he turned his military knowledge to account by taking the command of the Boyal Gloucestershire Yeomanry. But the Duke's deeds of " derring-do " have been principally confined to the hunting-field. Situated in one of the finest of the English shires— Gloucestershire —in a park with a circumference of nine miles, in the midst of a magnificent range of country, Badminton, the seat of the Beauforts, is peculiarly favourable for field sports, and for generations the Beauforts have been our greatest hunting family. The walls of the Mansion are hung with ancient pictures of famous sporting events and famouß hounds, some painted centuries back. From an early date etaghounds were kept here, but these in 1760 were exchanged for foxhounds. Hunting at Badminton had always been conducted on a grand scale, with all the pomp and circumstance of the feudal ages, and the meet on Badminton lawn, which more than one painter has done justice to, was one of the sights of rural England. When the present Duke came to the title the hounds were in great perfection under the care of William Long, who had hunted for the family for half-a-century. In 1855, however, the Duke elected to be himself huntsman and carry the horn. Three years later Thomas Clarke undertook the care of the kennel, and continued to hold the appointment until 1868, when the Marquis of Worcester ruled the roast. During the time of the last two dukes, the grand meets had fallen into desuetude, but it had long been the desire of the new owner of Badminton to revive them in all their ancient glory; the occasion of a visit of the Duohesa of Cambridge and the Princesß Mary offered an excellent opportunity, and on Feb. 8, 1859, it waa advertised that the hounds would meet on the lawn. The announcement caused the greatest sensation among gentle and simple throughout the weßt country. Many among them were too young to have witnessed these gatherings themselves, but had frequently heard them enthusiastically described by their elders. On the eventful day aa the appointed hour drew near, carriages and horsemen might have | been seen approaching in droves from every entrance j the assembly was immense, as may be judged from the fact that some five hundred persons sat down to the luxurious dejeuner provided for the delectation of the visitors. Carriages were arranged two or three deep on the margin of the drive which is three mileß long; the aristocracy for an* immense distance round, foreign magnates from London, dusky citizens of Bristol, celebrities from all parts, all tbe Beaufort \ Hunt and representatives from all the | neighbouring Hunts were present. Just before noon the hounds arrived, eighteen ; splendid couples selected from the mixed 1 pack, with the huntsmen and whippera-in [ clad in the Beaufort livery, blue with buff fa .in gs, and the second horsemen in green plush, the rear being brought up by aome ( two thousand two hundred stalwart yeo* i m-.nry. No finer or mora imposing

spectacle could be imagined ; here was tho English noble in the plenitude of his power and splendour, a real potentiality ; here was a picture which preserved all the pictureequpnees of medievalism without its tyranny and barbarism. There waa plenty of sport for both hounds and huntsmen, for the park contained two thousand head of deer, of which three hundred were red deer, with N game of every kind in abundance, and toxes galore, as may be judged from the fact that sixty-four representatives cf Monsieur Eejnard were once killed in a single season. Sport at Badminton, where its owner keeps open honse, has always been on a princely scale ; the stables, aB a rule, contain about seventy horses, of which about forty-five are hunters. The great mansion, erected in 1682 by the first Duke, is a magnificent specimen of French architecture of the Louis Quatorza style, of which Versailles ie the chef d'wuvre ; it is celebrated for its priceless works of art, pictures by Eaffaelle, Carlo Dolci, Guido, Salvator Eosa, &c, moßt of which were brought from Borne by the third Duke. There are also fourteen family portraits, going back to John of Gaunt. Ib was about 1855 tbat the blue and white hoopß and red cap of the Duke of Beaufort were first seen on a racecourse. The Dake commenced raoing on a very small scale. In 1854 he purchased a foal he named Furioso at her Majesty's yearling sale at Hampton Court, and placed it under the care of John Day at Danebury. A couple of races, the Burstbourne Stakes at Stockbridge, and a Belling Stakes at Newmarket, were all that Furioso placed to his owner's account. In the meantime he had purchased other racers — Vigil, half-sister to the notorious Cruiser (of Barey fame), Lasß of Eichmond Hill, Schoolboy, and Gin ; Gin captured the Lansdowne Biennial at Bath, and the July Stakes at Newmarket, and was considered good enough to be backed for the Derby, won by Beadsman. In 1857 the Duke was elected a Steward of the Jockey Club in the place of the Earl of Zetland, resigned. At this time he was one of the famouß Danebury plunging brigade,fosteredby clever old John Day.and the blue and white hoops, tbe scarlet and white of the Marquis of Hastings, the. green and white of the Earl of Westmoreland, and the violetand white of the Dukeof Newcastle were closely associated and extremely popular on every racecourse* Bis first important win was the One Thousand Guineas of 1865 with Sabrina, Fordham up, which was the commence' ment of that famous jockey's afterwards close connection with the Lord of Badminton. Dnring the following season Eustio was greatly fancied for the Derby, and it waa a terrible blow to the Danebury party, whose money he carried to a pretty considerable tune, when he only managed to get third to Lord Lyon and Savernake, all three, by a curious coincidence, sons of the mighty Stockwell. Ceylon, however, made a good thing for hia ducal owner by capturing the Craven Stakes and the Grand Prix de Paris. In 1867 Vauban won the Two Thousand guineas in such good style that he became a hot favourite for tbe Derby. On tbat never-to-be-for-gotten day Vauban was the observed of all observers, no one bad an eye for any other horse, unless it was for that beautiful galloper, Marksman. All through the blue and white hoops were to the fore, and the yellow jacket of Mr Merry close behind, until suddenly a horse that had only evoked the contemptuous pity of the knowing ones, carrying the rose jacket of young Mr Chaplin, poor Hermit, who had broken a blood vessel not long before, and waa considered quite outside the range of possibility, dashed through the drifting snowstorm and won by a neck. How terrible were the consequences to the plunging brigade was exemplified in the Marquis, of Hastings, and his fellow plungers were all hard hit. Vauban afterwards won the Goodwood Cup and another, Beaufort horse, Gomera, the Goodwood Stakes ; but the Derby defeat had given our Duke enough of racing for the time, and in 1868 he sold off all his horses that were in training, the Bale realising -815,480. Nevertheless, in the following season he took the One Thousand Guineas with the roaring Scottish Queen. From that time until 1880 when he again won the Two Thousand with Petronel, George Fordham up ,the Duke of Beaufort's connection with the Turf was very irregular. Neither has he figured very prominently since. Among the best of bis recent horses was The Cob ; he won the Oaks with Beved' Or in 1887, but last year did not win a single race. This year's City and Suburban fell to him, and he has won a hurdle race at Kempton. If ever there was an all-round sportsman it is the man of whom we are talking.. In hiß younger days he was a noted whip, and though he seldom now handles the ribbons, he is still president of the Fourin - Hand and the Coaching Clubs. Badminton has always been a great place for cricket practice, and its owner has ever taken the greatest interest in the Gloucestershire team, being the original mover of the national testimonial presented to Dr Grace in 1877, when the Duke was president o ithe M.C.C. The master of Badminton is still as much a man about town as he was in the days of the dandies, and he is equally at home in all companies — in the hunting-field, oa the racecourse, as a country gentleman, in literary and artistic salons, in the drawingrooms of Belgravia, behind the scenes of the theatre, or in tbe jollification of a Bohemian gathering — and he passes from one society to the other without effort and as though each was. equally agreeable to him. The Duke of Beaufort baa no town house, but lives in apartments near St James's Park. A clever 'observer- Jhas described him as " a genial, open-handed representative of the English country squire, with the title of a great peer and the top dressing of a man about town."